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3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 25 JANUARY 2023 NEWS HOME Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri should step down from his post after former pris- on director Robert Brincau was convicted of threatening a man on Tuesday, the Nationalist Party has said. "When news emerged the Prison Director was being charged in Court, the PN had stressed that he should be sus- pended pending the conclusion of these proceedings," spokes- person Joe Giglio. Just after the judgment was delivered on Tuesday morning, Brincau resigned his post and the Home Affairs Ministry im- mediately appointed Christo- pher Siegersma. When Brincau was charged last October, the home affairs minister insisted on sticking by Brincau when doorstepped out- side his ministry, saying there was a clear conflict between the version of events put forward by the parties in the case. "Now that the Prison Direc- tor has been found guilty by the Court, his resignation has not detracted from the wrong decision taken by the minister on the day the case emerged," Giglio said. "That decision fur- ther fostered the culture creat- ed by the Labour Government where anyone can do what they want without having con- sequences and without taking responsibility." The PN said the politics of im- punity has continued to grow, further exacerbating the securi- ty risk in Malta. "Now, the biggest certificate that Minister Byron Camilleri is not fit for purpose was given to him by Robert Abela himself when he stated that he does not even trust his daughter to be alone in Valletta," he said. "In light of all this, the Nation- alist Party feels that there is no other way than minister Byron Camilleri resigning voluntarily, or otherwise be removed from Robert Abela." THE Prime Minister sees no reason why Byron Camilleri should resign after former pris- on director Robert Brincau was handed down a suspended sen- tence by the courts. Robert Abela defended the Home Affairs Minister's ac- tions, even describing him as one of his "most productive" ministers. In comments to MaltaToday outside Castille at the end of a Cabinet meeting, Abela said government had wanted to wait for the courts to reach their ver- dict in the Brincau case before making any decisions. "The verdict was delivered to- day. Brincau resigned and this was accepted immediately, and a new director was appointed," Abela said, when asked whether Camilleri should shoulder po- litical responsibility after he had stood by the prisons director last summer. Brincau was charged by police over an incident at Għadira in August last year when he bran- dished a weapon and threat- ened an ambulance driver with it. On Tuesday morning, Brincau was found guilty of the charges and given a suspended sen- tence. He resigned and a new appointment was announced. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Inspector Ryan Vella had charged Brincau with slight bodily harm, threatening a man with a weap- on, insulting and threatening the man, carrying an unlicensed firearm in public, being armed during the commission of an offence and breaching the peace, in connection with the 21 August incident at Għadira Bay. Witnesses described to the court how the prison director had allegedly threatened an ambulance crew with a handgun in an incident apparently motivated by commercial rivalry between the am- bulance service provider and the Malta Red Cross, which Brincau had been the director of. The court had heard the ambulance driver testify that this was not the first incident where a Malta Red Cross beach supervisor had attempted to pre- vent casualties from being transported to Mater Dei Hospital by Alpha Medical. "If the patient tells us he wants to go to Mater Dei, we take him to Mater Dei. But the supervisor insisted that he had to call an ambulance from Ma- ter Dei. The Red Cross supervisor didn't want to let us take the patient," a witness testified. A similar situation had also occurred on 23 Ju- ly, and had also involved the witness. The ambu- lance driver denied suggestions that he had used violence on that occasion and pointed out that the police had not investigated him about it. The ambulance driver told the court that after being head-butted, he had punched the assailant, only dealing him a glancing blow as he had been holding his phone and keys in his punching hand. Around 30 seconds later, he found himself with a gun pointed at him. A nurse who had been inside the ambulance had started filming the incident on the company-is- sued mobile phone as soon as she saw the gun be- ing drawn, he said. The court noted that several eyewitnesses had ac- curately described the handgun, even before it was shown to them in court. CCTV footage also showed the accused putting his hand behind him and reaching for something tucked into his bermuda shorts. Although the court was unable to identify what the accused had taken out of the shorts, it noted that the account given to the police was faithful to that seen by the court. The dynamics of the incident as seen on CCTV also matched the account given by the witnesses. The court said there was no plausible reason for the three eyewitnesses, including a patient who happened to be receiving treatment in the am- bulance at the time, to invent such a worrying account of events which the accused denied had happened. The accused did not have a firearms licence, but had said that his various meetings with the Com- missioner of Police and the Attorney General gave him the impression that it was a grey area in the law, which was still being discussed. The court also examined Brincau's claim to be legally allowed to carry a concealed firearm with him at all times, concluding that this did not find succour in the Arms Act. "This means that in order for a prison official to be allowed to carry a firearm when off duty, he re- quires a permit from the Commissioner of Police." As it had been established that Brincau had been carrying the weapon during the commission of an offence against the person, in this case, slight bod- ily harm, the charge to that effect was also proven, said the court. Although Brincau had an unblemished criminal record, the court explained that the accused "must certainly understand that what he did can in no way be punished lightly." Brincau was sentenced to 12 months' imprison- ment, suspended for three years. The weapon – a Glock handgun – was confiscated together with the 10 rounds of 9mm ammunition it was seized with. A protection order was issued in favour of the victim and the witnesses. Brincau took over the directorship of the Corra- dino Correctional Facility from Lt. Col. Alexander Dalli in 2021 following a string of inmate suicides. Brincau was kept on as prison director despite being charged with the incident last August. Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri had stood by Brincau, insisting some of the media reports on Brincau's charges were "more sensational than others". The minister had insisted the case against Brin- cau be heard before any decision is taken. The Opposition had called for Brincau's tempo- rary suspension pending the court case. PN calls for minister's resignation after prison chief's conviction ... but Abela does not agree Byron Camilleri CHRISTOPHER Siegersma has been appointed director of the Corradino Correction Facility in the wake of the resignation of dis- graced boss Robert Brincau. He had been appointed in 2022 as the first Commissioner for the Welfare and Development of Pris- oners. Siegersma, 39, has years of ex- perience in the medical and social field. He was responsible for multi- disciplinary teams in the mental health sector, including Crisis In- tervention and Home Treatment team and Young People's Unit. Siegersma is a nurse by profes- sion and holds a Masters' degree from the University of Malta in mental health. He is reading for a PhD at the Queen Margaret Uni- versity of Edinburgh and is spe- cialising in psychological trauma related to criminal acts. Siegersma replaces disgraced boss Robert Brincau as director of the Corradino Correction Facility Brincau did not have firearms license